A vintage Case steam engine on display at ConExpo 2017. Photo: Wayne GraysonIn 1842, Jerome Increase “J.I.” Case founded the Racine Threshing Machine Works in Racine Wisconsin.
Now, in its 175th year, the company he started to make threshing machines has grown into an international powerhouse in the construction equipment world, manufacturing a range of machinery, from backhoe loaders to rough-terrain forklifts.
Case rolled out the first portable steam engine in 1869. That same machine resides today in the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.Case Construction Equipment, as the company is now known, became an early player in the country’s early road-building efforts when it rolled out the first portable steam engine in 1869. That same machine resides today in the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.
Through the years, the innovation continued. In 1957, the company launched its first factory-integrated tractor loader backhoe. By 2005, Case had made 500,000 of the machines. Along with backhoes, Case has built wheel loaders for 60 years and skid steers for almost 50 years. Along the way, it started making excavators, motor graders, vibratory compaction rollers, crawler dozers and compact track loaders. Case Construction Equipment is now part of CNH Industrial.
J.I. Case’s accomplishments were recognized by the industry in 2008, when he was inducted into the Association of Equipment Manufacturers Hall of Fame. Three years later, Case engineer Elton Long was inducted into AEM’s Construction Equipment Hall of Fame for his work developing the company’s backhoe.
Case Construction Equipment Historical Highlights
1842: Jerome Increase “J.I.” Case founded Racine Threshing Machine Works in Racine, Wisconsin.
1869: Makes first portable steam engine.
1957: Case Model 320, the first factory-integrated tractor loader backhoe, is introduced.
1967: Enters excavator market
1969: Begins making skid steer loaders
1977: Acquires Poclain excavators
1981: Acquires Drott and enters the wheeled excavator market
1999: Merger of Case and New Holland, eventually becoming CNH Industrial in 2013
2005: Makes its 500,000th backhoe
2010: Makes its 250,000th skid steer loader
